Martin Cullen: "I want an Irish team in the Premiership"

[Sheridan]

From an interview on 2FM's Sports Bag.

D0mEv4tPekI

If a minister publicly stating his desire to make everyone currently employed in his department's industry in Ireland redundant isn't a resigning issue, what is?

[Rovers1]

That has nothing to do with the EL really. A copy of the "Wimbledon" sh!te back in the 90's?

[dcfc1928]

Really pathetic tbh.

[adamd164]

Complaints to: ministersoffice@dast.gov.ie


Dear Minister Cullen,

I think it an absolute disgrace that you, as current Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, decided recently to air the opinion on national radio that a single football club should operate in Dublin and compete in the English league system and in European football competitions. I put it to you that it is your duty to promote the national League of Ireland (which, in case you didn't realise, already represents this country in European football, and has been doing so in an increasingly competitive manner in recent years) - a league spread throughout the country and recognised by UEFA as our official football system.

The supporters of this league (I include myself amongst them) have been fantastic ambassadors for the country when travelling abroad in European competition, and supporters of opposition teams have always been made very welcome when here for games. Moreover, as someone who regularly attends matches in the Cork area, I am dumbfounded by the level of antipathy which your comments convey towards the development of the game regionally (including in your hometown of Waterford). You are effectively promoting the anti-patriotic notion that the English governing body (the FA) ought to have dominion over an Irish side; whilst casting aside your responsability to work with the FAI to increase the popularity of our own league. This is an absolutely astonishing feat of ignorance on your part.

Yours in disgust,

[Dodge]

Don't forget that this is the same government that called on people not to shop in Northern Ireland on patriotic grounds

[sligoman]

What an absolute fool. Can't say I'm shocked though, he is in government after all.

[sonofstan]

Get emailing folks. Particularly Waterford fans.

[TonyD]

It is Martin Cullen though, one of the most stunningly incompetent and generally thick Ministers ever,(and that's tough category folks) so, you know, this stupidity doesn't surprise me. Personally, I think we should abolish the Dail and let the politicians from across the water run our country for us. :rolleyes:

[RonnieB]

wtf... words fail me now.

[L37Ultra]

Oh god.. He probably doesnt even know there are already Irish teams and wants to enter Dublin United into the English Premiership. Ive seen it all to be honest. Did anyone who sent e-mails, get anything back yet?

[Mr Maroon]

I've emailed the ignorant ********

[pete]

Isn't this the Minister for Disaster who only has his job because he is from Waterford. FF don't do resignations.

Maybe he is looking for boost Dublin tourism?

[teckno]

Sorry lads but have to agree with our Minister for Sport on this one. Look at the bigger picture here, if we had an Irish team in Premiership etc look at the overwhelming boost it would do for Irish Soccer. It would give us a massive platform to promote the game nationally. Our top young players rather than leaving the country could now stay at home and play full time professional football without leaving their familys at 16
Before I get knocked to pieces on this one I feel in turn this could be indeed an excellent boost for League of Ireland football with more fans than even before becoming interested in the game this feel good factor I believe could spill over and in fact help to increase attendances locally etc. I love the league of Ireland etc but to me anyway I can only see positives in this!!!

[LeixlipRed]

That's ****ing pathetic tbh.

[pete]

I love the league of Ireland etc but to me anyway I can only see positives in this!!!

That would be why you have so many posts here on LOI threads. If you don't know what trolling is you need to look it up.

[teckno]

No I am not taking the ****. I can see the positives in this for soccer in this country. It would be huge a boost soccer nationally to a platform that it has never before been on in this country. Imagine filling the new Lansdowne every second week with 50,000 irish people. it could do so much for the game and in turn provide the capital to really invest in the league of ireland. The attendances at League of Ireland are poor now surely this could help the numbers increase!! and in turn money could be provided to help th eircom league clubs

[teckno]

I don't post regular i admit but i do visit footie a lot and just because I have a different opinion to others does not mean I am trolling.

[sonofstan]

Assuming for a moment you're serious, how in God's name would help the LoI to have a team playing in the ENGLISH premiership here?

[teckno]

I think I have outlined above why I feel this would help the LOI. In my opinion that boost that this would do for soccer in the country would be incredible. What are the reasons to be against this. Do people really think that people would just stop going to LOI games. I don't think so could it not be used to boost the loi

[joey B]

Question teckno are you Martin Cullen:rolleyes:

Seriously on the issue, were else would you get the Minister of Sport wanting a team from their country playing in a different country .

The mind boggles!

[Billy Lord]

I think we should also have a Member of Parliament in Westminster to represent Ireland in the world's greatest democracy. After all, if Irish football would be best served by having a club in the EPL, Irish politics cannot be taken seriously on a global scale until we have a representative in England. Teckno is the obvious choice and is assured of my vote.

[MariborKev]

I think we should also have a Member of Parliament in Westminster to represent Ireland in the world's greatest democracy. After all, if Irish football would be best served by having a club in the EPL, Irish politics cannot be taken seriously on a global scale until we have a representative in England. Teckno is the obvious choice and is assured of my vote.

Too right BL.

If only them damn Shinners would start taking their seats in Westminister, the Celts might have a chance of getting into the EPL as well.:D

Absolutel joke from Cullen. Given football was the only sport in RTE review of the year where foreign action featured, why are we surprised?

We're not paranoid, but that doesn't mean they aren't out to get us.

[osarusan]

It would give us a massive platform to promote the game nationally.
To promote a foreign league, not our league. And if posts on here are to be believed, football is already the most-played sport in Ireland.


Our top young players rather than leaving the country could now stay at home and play full time professional football without leaving their familys at 16

One club will cater for every Irish footballer who wants to play in UK leagues? How big will the squad be?


this could be indeed an excellent boost for League of Ireland football with more fans than even before becoming interested in the game this feel good factor I believe could spill over and in fact help to increase attendances locally etc.
Fans who are willing to travel to the UK to watch games are not willing to cross the road to watch LOI football. How will making premiership football even more accessible to those fans help to increase LOI attendences?


Imagine filling the new Lansdowne every second week with 50,000 irish people. it could do so much for the game and in turn provide the capital to really invest in the league of ireland. The attendances at League of Ireland are poor now surely this could help the numbers increase!! and in turn money could be provided to help th eircom league clubs
Is this club just going to hand over money to help develop clubs who would be competing directly for the same fanbase? Or will the club actually be run by the FAI?

Your arguments seem to be based on the idea that football fans in Ireland are actually not aware of the existence of the LOI, and that having a premiership club in Ireland is going to make these fans more aware of, and attracted to, a domestic league which would get even less media exposure than it currently does.

[Candystripe]

I don't see how they would expect to get 50,000 at Landsdown rd for Dublin Utd V York in the Blue square premier league as that would probably be the point of english foorball that entry would begin.

What a load of toss.

[Niall]

The irony in all this is that due to the hype the premiership has in Ireland it appears to that there's a large minority of people like Cullen et al who probably believe the premiership represents Irish football in the same way Celtic does and believe it's Ireland's RIGHT that a team from Dublin be given entry diretly into the Premiership. Quite extraordinary really , and embarassing in this day and age that "Uncle Tom" figures such as Cullen are political representatives of an independent state.

Oh well, happy Christmas from Australia to all LoI fans and lets hope 2009 proves to be a better year for the game.

[endabob1]

I don't see how they would expect to get 50,000 at Landsdown rd for Dublin Utd V York in the Blue square premier league as that would probably be the point of english foorball that entry would begin.

What a load of toss.

The MK Dons move would suggest that a consortium could quite easily buy an ailing club and simply move them….

Ok it wouldn’t be simple as they would be moving out of the jurisdiction of the FA, so not quite the same as moving from Merton to Milton Keynes but the principal of franchise football has already been established. If lets say a club like Scunthorpe (picked completely at random) were about to go under, the Football League & FA may very well say "ok" if the only offer on the table included them moving to Dublin. Lot’s of hype & promotion to the championship in year one, they would then get good crowds in the Championship with plenty of money invested and no need to build a new stadium there would be a feel good factor (a bit like SundIreland’s promotion run) which would draw in the crowds and once promoted they might have to be mid-table for a couple of seasons but again with proper investment and a good Irish manager (Martin O’Neil for example) they may well be pushing for Cups and/or the SkyBig4.
For Sky it would be a massive coup to have an Irish team in there, a sizeable market for its products would be given a boost and there would be and added marketing angle, how long before Dublin Utd V’s Liverpool became a Super Sunday Derby Clash??

I am to a large degree playing devils advocate, it’s very easy to say “It’ll never happen” but Wimbledon fans probably thought the same thing…
The reasons I think it won’t happen are
It would need the support of both the FAI & UEFA, this would probably be the biggest stumbling block as clearly the domestic league would suffer and despite the suggestion that it could benefit local sides I can’t see the likes of Shels, Rovers, Pats & Bohs especially being supportive of a new super club which would basically drain them of any potential fan base growth. The FAI would need to either cut themselves off completely from the project, which would in turn imho mean UEFA would intervene to block it or else the FAI would have to essentially cut their ties with the LOI which you would hope would see a large scale protest from domestic teams causing UEFA again to intervene.
They would need to rent LR from the IRFU, not as simple a proposition as you might think, obviously money talks etc.. but what would happen during the 6 nations when Ireland have 3 games in 4/5 weeks, along with Leinsters Heineken cup games & other Domestic/Schools Rugby games there would be a lot of weekends where the pitch would be in use 2 or 3 days in a row, this happens in the UK with clubs who share with RU sides (Watford & Saracens, Reading & London Irish etc..) but imagine 4 games on a pitch in 8 days in February, what state would the pitch end up in?? Also obviously as owners the IRFU would have first call on its use which would make organizing games a nightmare, not an insurmountable obstacle but an obstacle none the less.
Finally the FA, while they may love the money, it also creates a headache for the English FA, you could well have the regular issue of European qualification that we seen when Cardiff reached the Cup final this season. The other issue would be that it also would mean an entire club that would have no need to pander to the needs of the English national team, Yeah I know Arsenal are virtually there!! For the FA to have a club based outside of England with no English players (and I am guessing here but I would imagine that Dublin Utd would not have (m)any English players as its whole ethos would be to play on the national pride for Irish players, we could maybe have the odd overseas Superstar but surely not anyone from the Auld enemy!) would go against the FA’s supposed focus on hosting and winning the World Cup in the not too distant future.

[bennocelt]

Sorry lads but have to agree with our Minister for Sport on this one. Look at the bigger picture here, if we had an Irish team in Premiership etc look at the overwhelming boost it would do for Irish Soccer. It would give us a massive platform to promote the game nationally. Our top young players rather than leaving the country could now stay at home and play full time professional football without leaving their familys at 16
Before I get knocked to pieces on this one I feel in turn this could be indeed an excellent boost for League of Ireland football with more fans than even before becoming interested in the game this feel good factor I believe could spill over and in fact help to increase attendances locally etc. I love the league of Ireland etc but to me anyway I can only see positives in this!!!


please crawl under a stone :mad:

i have emailed, but my message was a bit strong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gspain]

Aren't Sunderland Irish? Martin, waht next are you going to claim our great Glasgow club Tweedledum aren't Irish too?

This is the idiot who came up with evoting machines that use 20 yearold computer technology and then spends millions storing machines that were obsolete years before he even bought them.

[ifk101]

Amazing to think that we have a (very sizeable) population so gullible to the marketing of Sky Sports that they believe they know what's best for the game of football in Ireland.

[Kingdom]

No I am not taking the ****. I can see the positives in this for soccer in this country. It would be huge a boost soccer nationally to a platform that it has never before been on in this country. Imagine filling the new Lansdowne every second week with 50,000 irish people. it could do so much for the game and in turn provide the capital to really invest in the league of ireland. The attendances at League of Ireland are poor now surely this could help the numbers increase!! and in turn money could be provided to help th eircom league clubs


Ha good one! You do realise that to compete in the English top-flight, Dublin Utd or whatever they might be called would need as much revenue as possible from these fantastical attendences. So very little money would filter back to the LoI.

Another thing. You'd get 4 games sold out. United, Liverpool, chelsea and Arsenal. How many people would go to see games against Stoke, Bolton, etc?

Anyhow, its a stupid idea,

[BohDiddley]

Which buddy of George Bush, anti-democratic oil sheikh, Russian mineral wealth thief or south-east Asian torturer would own Dublin United?

[rebelraider]

A sure why dosent cullen abolish league of ireland football altogether or better still get himself a season ticket cross channel and leave us alone GOB****E

[Ronnie]

Sorry lads but have to agree with our Minister for Sport on this one. Look at the bigger picture here, if we had an Irish team in Premiership etc look at the overwhelming boost it would do for Irish Soccer. It would give us a massive platform to promote the game nationally. Our top young players rather than leaving the country could now stay at home and play full time professional football without leaving their familys at 16
Before I get knocked to pieces on this one I feel in turn this could be indeed an excellent boost for League of Ireland football with more fans than even before becoming interested in the game this feel good factor I believe could spill over and in fact help to increase attendances locally etc. I love the league of Ireland etc but to me anyway I can only see positives in this!!!

No - you show a basic lack of understnading of how football works. Just because there is a team in an area doesen't mean that our best young players go there. If a Premiership franchise was set up in Dublin it would want to be successful, thus it would take its players from all over the world and no more than at Man U or Celtic only a very small number of players from here would make it over the longer term. You also assume that the fans of British clubs in Ireland would support a new team - there are over a million United fans in Ireland, throw in Liverpool and Celtic and you probaly cover half the population, or 90% of soccer fans, they would not be changing their allegiance.(Thats aside from the fact that its an insult to our own clubs).

[GenerationXI]

Firstly, how the hell does this 'team' constructed from thin air and ministerial fecal matter gain entry into a league that some 60 other clubs in the UK have to compete to enter?

Secondly, entering an Irish team in a UK competition amounts to an admission that we are practically one in the same. We are an (almost) independent nation which should be fully capable of sustaining a decent league (look at Scotland who have a similar population). Any such move would only detract from the LOI. You want to increase interest in the LOI by having people watch another league?

Thirdly, the problem of young Irish players being snapped up by UK clubs is hardly one which is overstated but one to which this hairbrained scheme offers no solution.

Finally, what guarantees do we have that this team would be filled from the Irish ranks and if it were then how competitive would it be?

If anything that has ever been said or done by our government has made me ashamed of this country (and there have been numerous examples this year alone) this is right up there. :ball:

[Dodge]

The funny thing is that if this was posted by one of the numerous idiots on this forum, it'd be sent to rubbish. There are plenty of reason why it won't happen, and even more reasons why it'd fail if it was allowed to happen.

Laughable if it didn't show, once agin, what we're up against it

[Titan]

Jesus relax! Its Christmas. Marty had obviously had a sherry or two and decided to let us in on his own pipe dream. It wont happen. It cant happen. Pineapple Stu is as we speak listing the reasons and UEFA/FIFA rules that will prevent it from happening. He should have the full list by October next year theres that many of them.

[Joey Killester]

Sorry lads but have to agree with our Minister for Sport on this one. Look at the bigger picture here, if we had an Irish team in Premiership etc look at the overwhelming boost it would do for Irish Soccer. It would give us a massive platform to promote the game nationally. Our top young players rather than leaving the country could now stay at home and play full time professional football without leaving their familys at 16
Before I get knocked to pieces on this one I feel in turn this could be indeed an excellent boost for League of Ireland football with more fans than even before becoming interested in the game this feel good factor I believe could spill over and in fact help to increase attendances locally etc. I love the league of Ireland etc but to me anyway I can only see positives in this!!!


I didnt anything after this, he's clearly taking the **** or just someone who would enfuriate me.

[Saint_Charlie]

Jesus relax! Its Christmas. Marty had obviously had a sherry or two and decided to let us in on his own pipe dream. It wont happen. It cant happen. Pineapple Stu is as we speak listing the reasons and UEFA/FIFA rules that will prevent it from happening. He should have the full list by October next year theres that many of them.

I think we all know it won't happen. It's more about pointing out where the priorities of the Minister of Sport in this country lies.

As Dodge said, it just shows what you're up against :ball:

[Redie]

Edit; And also no way are 50,000 irish people gonna show up twice a week. The only kind of people this idiotic idea would attract are event junkies and no way are 50,000 thousand of them gonna show up to watch a dublin franchise team play the likes of Boro, Wigan and Fulham etc. I'm not too worried about this as thee is no chance of it taking off.

I could see 50,000 turning up every second week, only problem is they would all be supporting the English teams.

[pineapple stu]

Pineapple Stu is as we speak listing the reasons and UEFA/FIFA rules that will prevent it from happening.
Chuck Norris don't want it.

That is all.


On a serious note though (accepting that it won't happen for the reasons noted), would the barstoolers of the country ditch Liverpool/Man Utd/Arsenal/whoever to take up watching a team in Dublin? It'd sell out with "away" "fans" for the big games only and be a damp squib the rest of the time.

[Titan]

Chuck Norris don't want it.

That is all.


On a serious note though (accepting that it won't happen for the reasons noted), would the barstoolers of the country ditch Liverpool/Man Utd/Arsenal/whoever to take up watching a team in Dublin? It'd sell out with "away" "fans" for the big games only and be a damp squib the rest of the time.

Tony Mc Do'nt want it neither. The discussion is now over. The great man has spoken.

[Mr Maroon]

I haven't gotten a response. Has anybody else?

[geezer]

one accountant leading the helm and the rest of the dail all teachers on leave, receiving pay and pension from the teaching and guaranteed the jobs back when they pack in the politics despite the fact they will receive more pensions, expenses and ex gratia payments from the politics what do yee expect.
Teachers are like priests advising on marriage, they part knowledge from textbooks and never really experience anything they teach. The country is being run like a school

[Réiteoir]

Which buddy of George Bush, anti-democratic oil sheikh, Russian mineral wealth thief or south-east Asian torturer would own Dublin United?

Ubergruppenfuhrer Schwarzwalder von Hautkopf - thought to be at large in Paraguay

[OneRedArmy]

As Gary posted above, sure we already had an Irish team in the Premiership and look how that turned out?!

The boys got bored with their toys when the novelty wore off and instant success wasn't forthcoming.

Martin Cullen should qualify his point to "it would be great if we had an Irish team in the Premiership that won everything every year in order to keep the interest of the most fickle, bandwagon-jumping, attention deficit disorder suffering, brainless sheep follower nation on earth".

Something to be proud of indeed.

I'll be dropping Martin a line just to make myself feel better, but honestly, I'd have been more surprised if he didn't say something like this. Given the moron's anti-Midas track record (everything he touches turns to....) I'd prefer he remain a country mile away from the EL as god knows things are bad but not bad enough to need his support.

The sad thing is if there was an election tomorrow he'd probably get in again.

[bennocelt]

Martin Cullen should qualify his point to "it would be great if we had an Irish team in the Premiership that won everything every year in order to keep the interest of the most fickle, bandwagon-jumping, attention deficit disorder suffering, brainless sheep follower nation on earth".

Something to be proud of indeed.

The sad thing is if there was an election tomorrow he'd probably get in again.

:)yeah 100%
and Bertie is tipped for uras - might change my nationality when that happens:eek:

[Straightstory]

I'd have a slight preference for an Irish team in Serie A. More sunshine and fabulous art galleries for the away trips.

[SunnySweeney]

[QUOTE=OneRedArmy;1078252]

"it would be great if we had an Irish team in the Premiership that won everything every year in order to keep the interest of the most fickle, bandwagon-jumping, attention deficit disorder suffering, brainless sheep follower nation on earth".

LOL - that's (sadly) our great 'sport-lovin' public in a nutshell

[HammerNThongs]

Sorry lads but have to agree with our Minister for Sport on this one. Look at the bigger picture here, if we had an Irish team in Premiership etc look at the overwhelming boost it would do for Irish Soccer. It would give us a massive platform to promote the game nationally. Our top young players rather than leaving the country could now stay at home and play full time professional football without leaving their familys at 16
Before I get knocked to pieces on this one I feel in turn this could be indeed an excellent boost for League of Ireland football with more fans than even before becoming interested in the game this feel good factor I believe could spill over and in fact help to increase attendances locally etc. I love the league of Ireland etc but to me anyway I can only see positives in this!!!

You have got to be kidding me!!!!

Premiership ticket normally costs in the region of £30-50, so lets just say €45. Say a dad takes his 2 kids to see Dublin FC face Spurs and ends up paying €135, do you really think he's going to think to himself "Wow, this soccer thing is incredible...I wonder if we have a league of our own?" go home, do some Internet reserach and after he has read all about the snakes being banished from Ireland on Wikipedia turn up at Richmond Park to see Pats vs Sligo and spend another near €50? You are way off the beaten track.

Also, is the presence of Dublin FC going to go around and advertise the Eircom League at their home fixtures, a league that will be it's comeptition for fans and resources? Do you really think they are going to ask 14 year old Joe Irish to join their youth team if they can afford to go and get the next Fabregas instead? The basic fundamentals of the footballing world, especially the Premiership World (ie...money money money), are all missing from your post. Deluded or Wumming, and for the sake of you and yours, I hope it's Wumming

[dcfcsteve]

Pineapple Stu is as we speak listing the reasons and UEFA/FIFA rules that will prevent it from happening. He should have the full list by October next year theres that many of them.



Really ? :confused:

The only time European law was asked to intervene in a case of clubs from one footballing jurisdiction playing in another jursidiction against the wishes of their home jurisdiction, the clubs won (i.e. the case of the Welsh exile clubs vs the FA of Wales). Footballing rules are always trumped by European law.

Under European competition and restraint of trade laws, if a Dublin-based club was to be accepted into the English Premiership in accordance with the rules of the premiership, there is nothing that could legally be done to prevent that. That is now an established legal fact within the EU, and will remain so until and unless a contrary judgement.

So there are no such regulations for anyone to list that are legally enforceable. Which may explain why they haven’t been.